To ensure the program’s effectiveness, impact and long-term sustainability, TRIAD will be organized into the following committee structure to facilitate rapid communication and allow efficient points of access (Figure 2): The program as a whole will be managed by the Coordinator (CO) who will be assisted by the Office of Management and Support. The Coordinator (CO; Prof. George A. Garinis) has prior management experience with successfully coordinating large EU research and training consortia, including e.g., EPAnEK Panther, H2020-aDDRess, H2020-HealthAge. Moreover, UC has earned the EU’s “HR Excellence in Research" award. The CO will serve as the principal link between the consortium and the EU and will be responsible for all financial and legal provisions, being in charge of the financial plan and payments. The CO’s responsibilities will be: i) to represent TRIAD in all communications with the Program Officer (PO) and the Research Executive Agency; ii) to advise and lead the participants on all developments needed for the projects’ execution; iii) to ensure the effective exchange of information between the participants; iv) to compile and issue the periodic and final scientific reports; v) to issue the administrative and financial reports; vi) to oversee the efficient implementation of program activities. Day-to-day assistance to the coordination will be conducted by an administrator with prior experience in research and training networks.
- The CO and the TRIAD Participating teams (UC, iMM and MU) will be the ultimate decision-making body of the program on all training, transfer of knowledge and research activities and will supervise all outreach activities and the dissemination, exploitation and transfer of knowledge procedures.
- TRIAD will receive strategic advice from the International Advisory Board (IAB) on overall scientific developments and directions. The IAB will be composed of four external experts who will oversee the progress and development of TRIAD, provide critical analysis of the project results, review the key deliverables and participate to TRIAD meetings upon invitation. The IAB members are independent and have no inter-relationship (no conflict of interests) to TRIAD: 1. Prof. Agnel Sfeir, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (USA) (expert on telomere maintenance and DNA repair), 2. Prof. Jan Vijg, Albert Einstein College of Medicine (USA) (expert on animal models, genomics and ageing), 3. Prof. Julie Promisel Cooper, University of Colorado (expert on the biology of telomeres), 4. Prof. Joachim Lingner (expert on the biology of telomeres), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland).
iii. The Ethical Committee. The TRIAD ethics committee will be comprised of representatives from the UC, iMM, and MU participating teams. They will collaborate with the established bioethics committees at UC, iMM, and MU to ensure transparency in TRIAD research involving animal models and human cell lines. The committee's role will also encompass the development of consistent guidelines, standards, and regulatory frameworks for research involving animal models within the TRIAD research teams.
- The Career Development Committee. The TRIAD career development committee will be comprised of supporting staff from the UC, iMM, and MU career advisory offices. The committee will provide strategic guidance to TRIAD team members and play a pivotal role in empowering individuals involved in the project to make informed career choices, develop essential skills, and achieve their professional goals within the respective institutes and beyond. In addition, the committee will promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in career development and support to underrepresented groups.
- The Office of Management and Support will assist the CO at the IMBB with the administrative and financial responsibilities of the project at all levels and ensure gender equality.
- The lab managers of UC, iMM and MU research teams will be responsible for coordinating the activities related to the exchange of data, methodologies, and experimental models.
This structure will ensure that 1) actions in the research program are coordinated, 2) milestones are achieved, 3) deliverables are completed to schedule, 4) quality standards in scientific and training procedures apply, 5) ethical practice is maintained, 6) activities meet EU regulations, 7) gender equality is promoted.